1880
Events January–March * January 22 ** Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * February – The journal Science is first published in the United States with financial backing from Thomas Edison. * February 2 ** The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana. ** The first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia arrives in London aboard the SS Strathleven. * February 4 ** The Black Donnelly Massacre took the lives of five members of one family in Biddulph Township, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada * February 24 ** The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS Columbia]], which will be the first outside usage of Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulb, is launched at the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works of John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. * March 31 – Wabash, Indiana becomes the first electrically lit city in the world. April–June *April – The government of Cape Colony sets a deadline for the surrender of weapons by the Basuto people. Non-compliance leads to the Basuto Gun War. * April 18 – William Ewart Gladstone defeats Benjamin Disraeli in the United Kingdom general election to become Prime Minister for the second time. * April 19 – The Prime Minister of Sweden, Louis De Geer, resigns over the defeat of a defense reform bill in the country's Riksdag; he is succeeded by Count Arvid Posse (1880–1883). * April 27 – Charter founding the Royal University of Ireland, allowing the Catholic University of Ireland to re-form as University College Dublin. * May 2 – After having her lights installed by Edison's personnel, the [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS Columbia]] is lit up for the first time at the foot of Wall Street in New York City. * May 13 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway. *June – The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS Columbia]] sets off on her maiden voyage around Cape Horn to Portland, Oregon, carrying 13 locomotives and 200 railcars. * June 1 – Tinius Olsen awarded a United States Patent for the Little Giant Testing Machine. * June 28 – Australian police capture bank robber Ned Kelly after a gun battle at Glenrowan, Victoria. * June 29 – France annexes Tahiti. July–September * July 14 – Dorchester Penitentiary opens in Canada. * July 22 – Abdur Rahman Khan becomes Emir of Afghanistan. * July 27 – Battle of Maiwand * August 14 – Cologne Cathedral is completed, after construction began in 1248, 632 years earlier. * August 24 – The [[SS Columbia (1880)|SS Columbia]] completes her maiden voyage, arriving without incident in Portland, Oregon after a stopover in San Francisco. * August 26 — Competing circus owners P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey sign a contract in Bridgeport, Connecticut to create the Barnum & Bailey Circus. In 1907, the circus will merge forces with another competitor, the Ringling Brothers Circus. * September 1 — Second Anglo-Afghan War: General Frederick Roberts, commanding British forces, defeats the Afghan troops of Mohammad Ayub Khan in the Battle of Kandahar, bringing an end to the war. October–December * October – The "Blizzard of 1880" begins in North America. * October 1 – German company Munich Re is founded in Munich. * October 6 – The University of Southern California opens its doors to 53 students and 10 faculty. * October 15 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists. * October 28 – The first stone is laid for the Clarkson Memorial in Wisbech. * November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1880: James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock. * November 4 – The first cash register is patented by James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio. * November 9 – A major earthquake strikes Zagreb and destroys many buildings including Zagreb Cathedral. * November 11 – Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne. * November 22 – Vaudeville actress Lillian Russell makes her debut at Tony Pastor's Theatre in New York City. * December 20 – First Boer War: The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit results in a Boer victory over the British. * December 30 – The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger becomes its first president. Date unknown * Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signs a treaty of protection with the chief on the large Teke tribe and begins to establish a French protectorate on the north bank of the Congo River. * Piezoelectricity is discovered by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie. * The Capuchin catacombs of Palermo are officially closed (there will be some burials afterwards). * The Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union is established in the United States. Births January–March ]] * January 2 – Louis Charles Breguet, French aircraft designer and builder and early aviation pioneer (d. 1955) * January 6 – Tom Mix, American actor (d. 1940) * January 11 – Rudolph Palm, Curaçao born composer (d. 1950) * January 17 – Mack Sennett, Canadian director and producer (d. 1960) * January 18 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian-Dutch physicist (d. 1933) * January 26 ** Sylvia Ashton, American actress (d. 1940) ** Douglas MacArthur, American general (d. 1964) * January 28 **Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (d. 1970) **Dorothy Donnelly, American actress, lyricist (d. 1928) * January 29 – W. C. Fields, American actor and comedian (d. 1946) * February 5 – Gabriel Voisin, French aviation pioneer (d. 1973) * February 8 – Franz Marc, German artist (d. 1916) * February 12 ** John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969) ** George Preca, Maltese saint (d. 1962) * February 14 – Frederick J. Horne, American four star Admiral (d. 1959) * February 16 – Frank Burke, American baseball player (d. 1946) * February 17 – Reginald Farrer, English botanist (d. 1920) * February 21 – Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952) * February 22 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956) * February 27 – Olivia Nordgren, Swedish politician (d. 1969) * March 1 – Lytton Strachey, English writer and biographer (d. 1932) * March 4 – Channing Pollock, American playwright and critic (d. 1946) * March 10 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor (d. 1971) * March 11 – Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (d. 1943) * March 22 – Kuniaki Koiso, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1950) * March 23 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish Minister of the Interior (d. 1922) * March 28 – Louis Wolheim, American character actor (d. 1931) * March 30 – Seán O'Casey, Irish writer (d. 1964) April–June ]] * April 13 – Charles Christie, Canadian-born film studio owner (d. 1955) * April 15 – Max Wertheimer, father of Gestalt Theory (d. 1943) * April 18 – Sam Crawford, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1968) * April 30 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish-born cartoonist (d. 1967) * May 6 ** Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938) ** William J. Simmons, American founder of the second Ku Klux Klan (d. 1945) * May 14 – B. C. Forbes, Scottish-born financial publisher (d. 1954) * May 21 – Tudor Arghezi, Romanian writer (d. 1967) * May 25 ** Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist (d. 1967) ** Alf Common, English footballer (d. 1946) * May 29 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936) * June 4 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962) * June 6 – W. T. Cosgrave, Irish politician (d. 1965) * June 9 – William S. Pye, American admiral (d. 1959) * June 17 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (d. 1964) * June 21 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, British civil servant, industrialist and economist (d. 1941) * June 27 – Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (d. 1968) * June 29 – Ludwig Beck, German general and Chief of the German General Staff (d. 1944) * June 30 – Elisabeth Tamm, Swedish politician (d. 1958) July–September ]] * July 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (d. 1940) * July 11 – Friedrich Lahrs, German architect (d. 1964) * July 12 – Tod Browning, American motion picture director, horror film pioneer (d. 1962) * July 15 – Alessandro Guidoni, Italian air force general (d. 1928) * July 21 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak General, politician and astronomer (d. 1919). * July 24 ** Ernest Bloch, Swiss-born composer (d. 1959) ** Kristian Hellström, Swedish athlete (d. 1946) * August 4 – Werner von Fritsch, German general (d. 1939) * August 6 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964) * August 8 – Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1961) * August 10 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist and mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1964) * August 12 – Christy Mathewson, American baseball player (d.1925) * August 15 – Anna Rüling, German journalist, "the first known lesbian activist" (d. 1953) * August 19 – Jean Patou, French fashion designer (d. 1936) * August 22 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (d. 1944) * August 23 – Wyndham Standing, English stage and film actor (d. 1963) * August 26 – Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (d. 1918) * August 29 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, verified as the longest-lived Canadian ever (d. 1998) * August 30 – Nikolai Astrup, Norwegian painter (d. 1928) * August 31 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (d. 1962) * September 12 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist (d. 1956) * September 14 ** Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Eastern Orthodox missionary and writer, Exarch of Russian Church in North America (d. 1961) ** Archie Hahn, American athlete (d. 1955) * September 15 – Chujiro Hayashi, Japanese Reiki Master (d. 1940) * September 16 – Alfred Noyes, English poet (d. 1958) * September 20 – Ugo Cavallero, Italian field marshal (d. 1943) * September 22 – Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (d. 1958) * September 23 – John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971) * September 24 – Sarah Knauss, verified as longest-lived American ever (d. 1999) * September 27 – Pier Ruggero Piccio, Italian World War I fighter ace and air force general (d. 1965) October–December ]] ]] * October 4 – Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946) * October 7 – Paul Hausser, German general (d. 1972) * October 12 – Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, French admiral (d. 1973) * October 23 – Una O'Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959) * November 1 ** Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (d. 1954) ** Alfred Wegener, German scientist and meteorologist (d. 1930) * November 2 – John Foulds, English classical music composer (d. 1939) * November 5 – Richard Oswald, Austrian film director (d. 1963) * November 6 – Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (d. 1942) * November 9 – Giles Gilbert Scott, British architect (d. 1960) * November 10 – Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (d. 1959) * November 12 – Harold Rainsford Stark, American admiral (d. 1972) * November 18 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect (d. 1952) * November 25 ** Elsie J. Oxenham, born Elsie J. Dunkerley, English children's novelist (d. 1960) ** John Flynn (minister), Australian medical services pioneer (d. 1951) * December 1 – Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (d. 1920) * December 3 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (d. 1945) * December 4 – Garfield Wood, American motorboat racer (d. 1971) * December 10 – Jessie Aspinall, Australian doctor, first female junior medical resident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (d. 1953) * December 11 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951) * December 24 – Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist and children's book author (d. 1938) * December 31 – George Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959) Date unknown * Hong Yi ,born Li Shutong, Chinese Buddhist artist and art teacher (d. 1942) Deaths January–June * January 4 ** Anselm Feuerbach, German painter (b. 1829) ** Marthe Camille Bachasson, Count of Montalivet, French statesman (b. 1801) * January 8 – Joshua A. Norton, self-anointed Emperor Norton I of the United States of America (b. 1811) * January 12 ** Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, wife of Chester A. Arthur (b. 1837) ** Ida, Countess von Hahn-Hahn, author (b. 1805) * January 14 – Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1829) * January 20 – Captain Moonlite, Australian bushranger (b. 1842) (hanged) * January 31 – Adolphe Granier de Cassagnac, French politician (b. 1806) * February 29 – Sir James Milne Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1812) * April 23 – Raden Saleh, Indonesian painter (b. 1807) * March 14 – Pagan Min, King of Ava (b. 1811) * March 31 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835) * May 2 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer and pioneer of Australian rules football (b. 1835) * May 4 – Edward Clark, Confederate Governor of Texas (b. 1815) * May 8 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821) * May 20 ** Károly Alexy, Hungarian sculptor (b. 1816) ** Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse (b. 1814) * June 8 – Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse), Empress Consort of Czar Alexander II of Russia (b. 1824) * June 28 – Texas Jack Omohundro, American frontier scout, actor, and cowboy (b. 1846) July–December ]] * July 7 – Lydia Maria Child, American novelist and abolitionist (b. 1802) * July 17 – Tomasz Chołodecki, Polish political activist (b. 1813) * July 21 – Hiram Walden, American politician (b. 1800) * August 15 – Adelaide Neilson, English actress (b. 1848) * August 17 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810) * August 24 – Chief Ouray, Native American leader (b. c. 1833) * October – Victorio, Chiricahua Apache chief * October 5 – Jacques Offenbach, German-born composer (b. 1819) * October 22 – Alphonse Pénaud, French aviation pioneer (b. 1850) * October 23 – Bettino Ricasoli, Italian statesman (b. 1809) * November 11 – Ned Kelly, Australian bush ranger (hanged) (b. c. 1855) * November 28 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, (Portuguese) Archbishop of Goa (b. 1837) * December 20 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American soldier (b. 1797) * December 22 – George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819) References * Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia...for 1880 (1881), large compendium of facts, worldwide coverage online Category:1880